The Wausau Daily Herald is reporting that the recall committee for Sen. Jim Holperin has 20K signatures:
The Holperin recall committee was required to gather at least 15,960 signatures of people living within Holperin's district. Bob Rajek, chairman of the Republican Party
of Lincoln County, said Monday that he believed more than 20,000 signatures had been collected but did not have an exact number.
This is the Republicans' best and probably only hope during the "summer of the recall." The GOP actually has a pretty good shot at picking up this seat. Holperin narrowly won the seat in 2008, which was opened-up when Doyle appointed the district's longtime Dem Senator, Roger Breske, as Railroad commissioner. Previously, Holperin had served as Wisconsin Tourism Secretary under Doyle and served as Assemblyman from Eagle River from 1982 until he retired in 1994 to head the nonprofit Trees for Tommorrow in Eagle River.
This district does lean Republican and just voted for Prosser by a whopping 14 point margin. But, Holperin is a survivor. In 1990, he was actually the first state legislator to face a recall since 1932. That recall was fueled by Holperin's support of the Lac du Flambeau Chippewa band's treaty rights that enabled them to spearfish, which angered many locals... yeah this is the North Woods. Holperin won that recall 61-39%.
There is no official candidate officially put forward by the Republicans, but Northwoods Patriots Tea Party Leader Kim Simac seems to have the inside track. She led the Holperin recall efforts and is considered to be a rising star in the Tea Party movement.
The other likely possabilities would be Tom Tiffany, owner of Wisconsin River Cruises, who only lost to Holperin by two points in 2008 and got elected to the Assembly's 35th district in 2010; Assemblyman Dan Meyer from the 34th; or Jeff Mursau from the Assembly's 36th district.